An apparent car bomb exploded outside the Danish embassy in Pakistan's capital on Monday, killing at least four people and wounding dozens more, officials and witnesses said.
The blast echoed through Islamabad and left a crater more than three feet deep in the road in front of the embassy. Shattered glass, fallen masonry and dozens of wrecked vehicles littered the area. A plume of smoke rose above the scene as people, some bloodied, ran back and forth in a state of panic.
Amir Ali, deputy commissioner of Islamabad, said four people were killed and six were wounded, although witnesses said many more were injured by flying debris. There was no immediate information on the identities of the casualties.
The explosion appeared to be a car bomb, police officer Muhammad Ashraf said. Someone parked a car in front of the embassy and it exploded at around 1 p.m., he said.
It was the second bombing targeting foreigners in the Pakistani capital in less than three months.
Denmark has faced threats at its embassies following the reprinting in Danish newspapers of a caricature depicting the noble Prophet Muhammad.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. It follows a bombing in March at a restaurant in Islamabad that killed a Turkish aid worker and wounded at least 12 others including four FBI personnel.
"I was with a friend passing through a nearby street then we heard a big bang," said witness Muhammad Akhtar. "Then we saw smoke and people running in a frenzy. We shifted at least eight or nine injured to hospitals. They all have got serious injuries. They were soaked in blood."
Footage from the scene showed rescue workers dragging away a bloodied person, covering his torso with a blanket.
Sirens wailed as ambulances took the wounded from the scene. One group of rescuers carried away what appeared to be the upper half of a man's body. Pieces of metal and glass were scattered at least 200 yards from the blast site.
An exterior wall of the embassy collapsed and its metal gate was blown inward but the embassy building itself remained intact. The Danish flag and the EU flag were blown off their staffs and the windows of the embassy were blown out.
The office of a Pakistani development organization opposite the embassy was badly damaged, its roof partially collapsed.
Anjum Masood, a field operations manager for the U.N.-funded group, Devolution Trust for Community Empowerment, said dozens of its 100 employees were wounded, mostly because of flying glass. His own left hand was bandaged.
Taliban and al-Qaida-linked fighters have launched a wave of bombings in Pakistan over the past year, mostly targeting security forces.
There had been a relative lull in violence since a new civilian government took power two months ago and began peace talks with the Taliban based along the Afghan frontier.
PHOTO CAPTION
Pakistani police stand at the site of a blast outside the Danish embassy in Islamabad June 2, 2008.
AP